


Their Template, Her Student

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, other canon characters show up briefly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 01:36:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13893489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: A decision to expose the developing clones to a Force User leads to a different path for the galaxy. Especially for a Sith-trained assassin.





	Their Template, Her Student

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, Ilyena-Sylph, for helping me get this one put together.

"Acquire a Force-sensitive child and use that," the Master hissed.

"It shall be done, my Master," came the required reply.

* * *

While Jango Fett would possibly deliver the best results, it was Asajj Ventress's capabilities he wished to test. She was given the task of finding an unknown Force-sensitive child and deliver them to The Project. She was given a month to carry it out, given that she had to find the right target.

A Togruta looking to launch a new colony, breaking away from his people, let slip a key detail during a meeting with a potential shipmaster while Asajj happened to be in the right place at the right time. He wanted a pair of friends of his to come, with their child who seemed uncommonly smart and skillful for a toddler. Asajj blessed the Force, and began her investigation from there.

* * *

Acquisition had been costly, but at least she had darted the brat into unconsciousness before the adults had noticed and swarmed her. Asajj was counting it as a victory despite having been intent on not being seen. She would need to study that species more closely, later, to see how they had detected her.

When the brat awakened, Asajj had her hands full. The child spoke only a little Basic, and seemed to be having a difficult time hearing or understanding Asajj unless she spoke up louder and clearer. If she had to redo all of this because the brat was defective…

…and yet, Asajj found herself smiling a handful of times in the remainder of the month before delivery. Having lied to say she had rescued the child, she had been subjected to mock-hunts, offerings of food, and more than a few spontaneous naps against her legs. At least once, it passed through her mind that Asajj was no better than the slavers of her youth, watching the energetic child and knowing she was destined to be a piece of the puzzle in a laboratory.

Maybe she could make it less so if she intimidated the project technicians? Asajj considered that, and growled just a little at herself for being too soft, even now.

* * *

For all their lives, even before they began to be removed from their growth jars, the clones of Kamino had known the touch of their Force user. Ahsoka, having been handed over and then taught at random intervals by the pale woman with tattoos, had been given one task in life.

She was to bond with the helpless creations in their jars, a trick accomplished with the toddler through various means of food bribes and appealing to her need for people. Once she understood that the jars would one day give her millions of brothers, she slept in the creation chamber and projected her love for them all, unconsciously stoking the manipulations in their genes to make them receptive to Force users in general.

Asajj grew more than a little disgusted as this phase of the project continued. The Kaminoans were careful to not upset the child, as they did not want negative energies to influence their experiment. The child was brilliant, receptive to learning all the basic tricks of the Force that Ky Narec had taught her, but Ahsoka was also tied so completely to the cannon fodder that she was a willing slave for the Kaminoans.

Or so Asajj thought, until her Master directed her very abruptly to go and deal with a crisis on Kamino.

She arrived to find that the Kaminoans could not access the nursery at all, where the clones that had matured to decanting lived.

"Can you reason with her? She has kept the doors and vents sealed against us for two days! She has neither slept not eaten, and while we know she must pass out soon, we fear the impact on her cooperation and the product," Taun We explained.

"What triggered this behavior?" Asajj asked, even as she let her mind quest for that of her young student.

"We had removed defective units. She protested the action," Taun We told her.

Asajj bit back the vicious smile. So her little pet knew how to fight back over things she thought were hers? Asajj could work with that. She went to the doors, just waiting, gathering the Force to her as she contemplated using lightsabers to enter, or just asking the child to admit her. Before she made her final choice, the door clicked and opened of its own accord, just enough for Asajj to come in.

"Wait here," she told the Kaminoans, moving inside to find…

…plenty of food and and Ahsoka that looked very rested. At six, possibly seven years old, the child was still all eyes in a face wider than a human's, with strong but thin limbs coming off her compact body. All around her, the clones, looking to be nearly her age at the eldest, down to the recent decants that appeared to be just past two human years, were watching with tension in their faces.

The doors closed behind Asajj, and equipment that had been to either side suddenly lifted and filled in against them.

"Smart little thing, aren't you?" Asajj said, as she realized Ahsoka had planned for this. That meant she had seen earlier cullings and only moved once she had all things in place.

"They took my brothers. The ones who weren't as strong or quick, and the ones that were different," Ahsoka growled. Asajj had done little to rein in the child's emotions and it was anger sparking in her now.

"They are defective to the project's parameters; many of them cannot survive long without pain. Do you wish them to exist in a tortured state?" Asajj asked, keeping her voice low as the clones milled about or slept.

Ahsoka gave a fierce glare, then shook her head. "I want them helped, not killed!"

"That is not going to be possible, little one," Asajj pointed out. "These people are creators, not menders."

"Then teach me! Teach me how you fixed my arm when I broke it!"

"And when you still cannot fix the worst ones?" Asajj pressed, even as the idea appealed to her, to pass on her birthright as well as her Jedi and Sith training.

Ahsoka swallowed hard and looked around at all of her brothers. "Is there a nicer way to help them not hurt anymore?" 

The simple step toward merciful deaths made Asajj stop and consider the girl more fully. She was so young, and yet, in this unique environment, her moral code was shaping toward the Jedi more firmly than anything Sithly. 

"It is a hard thing to do, but I can teach you both."

"And make them leave the broken ones to me?"

"I think you are taking on too much, but yes."

* * *

Asajj did not have to report about the Project, and she noticed Jango didn't either. She was still wary of that one; Ahsoka said he basically ignored her and didn't let her have access to his clone brat. She kept the fact that Ahsoka was being so Jedi-ish to herself, while spending more time teaching her, between her assignments, than Dooku might have intended.

Because she had never hidden her face to Ahsoka, when she was working in the galaxy at large, she employed a helmet and different clothing, against the day the Jedi did find out about the Project. It never crossed her mind that Ahsoka would side with the Jedi over the clones, ever, even once the full plan unveiled itself.

After all, the bonding had gone both ways, and Ahsoka was fiercely loyal to the clones, as evidenced by her growing cadre of broken boys she had saved. When she was not studying how an Army and Fleet worked, she was working with them, helping them slot into support tasks to help the boys that were healthy improve in their purpose.

The Kaminoans couldn't even complain, as she had her support staff taking over tasks that had been onerous to them as they got old enough or big enough to do them, freeing up more technicians to keep fine-tuning the process.

All of this was oddly satisfying to Asajj to watch play out, until the day that Dooku decided to push the timetable to fruition.

"Jango is to go handle Coruscant. You will go clean up the loose end on Kamino," he informed her.

"Master? Will that not cause an issue for The Project's deployment, given the rapport deliberately crafted?"

"Make it look like an attack from their soon-to-be enemies, the Separatists," he said coldly.

Asajj bowed, hiding her abhorrence for the idea as deep within as she could. "As you command."

"Do not fail me, Asajj."

* * *

Asajj considered just taking the girl away from Kamino, but discarded the thought instantly. The bonds Ahsoka had forged with the men would prevent her from being willing, and the last thing Asajj wanted was to lose her young acolyte to resentment.

She was just going to have to lie in wait for the Jedi that Jango lured in. Dooku would still get his war, but possibly not with the Jedi as blind to all the maneuvers as the Count intended! Betraying him and the Separatists mattered far less than protecting her investment in the child she had taught for a decade.

She brought her ship down and went straight for where Ahsoka was, drawn by her fire-bright presence in the Force. Asajj wasted no time, covering her lips with a finger, and gesturing for the girl to come to her at the door of the training room she was in. Ahsoka extricated herself from the seven year olds, all of whom now stood taller than her, and joined Asajj.

Again, the temptation to just take her away struck, but Asajj committed to her course in this moment. Too much time and energy was tied up in Ahsoka as her heiress now.

"Outside," Asajj murmured near the budding montrals, hand sliding to the slim shoulder, arm along her back. The small rear lek flicked annoyance at where, but Asajj knew that was the rain, and how it irritated her student's skin. Asajj led her out and to her ship, so they could shelter under the wing.

"What is it? I felt you come out of hyperspace," Ahsoka said, "and you are agitated."

"That, my little pet, is because the Jedi will soon come… and the man that made me bring me you here, years ago, told me to kill you," Asajj said bluntly. Ahsoka almost staggered, eyes going narrow, before Asajj followed up. "I am choosing to end the charade, Ahsoka. Because, regardless of the fact you were only ever supposed to be an assignment… you came to matter.

"Which means I have to protect those damnable clones you love so much, and that means choosing the Jedi side, despite what they did to my master," she finished.

Ahsoka's lekku, the front ones that had grown enough in length to be very expressive, were writhing with emotions. "You… you said you saved me."

"From my point of view, I did. I hate the Jedi, and as strong as you were, they would have taken you! Indoctrinated you more surely than the flash training your boys endure," Asajj said, being honest in the moment.

Ahsoka was silent for a long moment. "You killed my clan?"

Asajj nodded. "Probably. I didn't linger. I had only wished to snatch you away, but they heard me. I didn't know then, how much your people could hear. There were three, all males, that I made contact with."

The girl turned away, struggling with her emotions, weighing the years, weighing the honesty, against that first year of adapting to her new life, missing her family.

"You'll help me save my brothers?" she finally asked, turning back. "No more lies, no more hiding?"

Asajj growled a little. "It's more about saving you! But yes, fine."

Ahsoka moved to wrap her arms around Asajj's waist. "I'm probably going to be angry some more. They were my clan. But you have been clan all these years… and you're choosing me over your orders. That's important."

Asajj remembered the first hug she had given her Master, the way it had felt versus how it felt now to have someone choosing to put their faith in her, as she had done with Ky. She returned the hug, and let her focus fully shift to keeping Ahsoka alive and at her side.

They would do this.


End file.
